The Tomorrow War

The trailers didn't do this action sci-fi flick a good service, and even when The Tomorrow War went straight to stream, you kind of assumed that you weren't going to be treated to a quality show. But it turned out unexpectedly well this time. The Tomorrow War is far from perfect, but the two and a quarter hours in front of the TV pass pleasantly quickly. They may be quite blatantly ripping off Edge of Tomorrow, Terminator, Alien, or even The Thing, but who could be mad at them for looking to the best for inspiration? Moreover, after a slow start, Chris McKay hits the gas hard and showers the audience with one action scene after another. In doing so, he makes sure not to dumb down the style and the setting, so after intense fights in the city and one not-quite-successful hunting trip, there's a spectacular shootout that would have been quite fitting for the big screen, and the whole thing is finished off a little differently. And it paces the whole thing well enough for one to overlook that it's pretty much just plain. Chris Pratt may play Star-Lord at first, but once the serious stuff starts happening he puts on a serious face and is quite good at it. The designers went truly bonkers with the monsters and I find myself wanting to watch a few scenes again a few hours after the closing credits. Who would have expected that after the crappy trailers? (04/07/2021)

Pure-blooded military sci-fi for dads and their daughters. An interesting story structure, where things don’t follow one after the other and the biggest punch up doesn’t come at the end; it works well and you don’t get bored. McKay successfully surfs on the waves of humor and pathos, but manages to shoot serious scenes too. Surprisingly the biggest strength of The Tomorrow War lies in the emotional sphere. The action is excellent, only at places it seems rather video-game like, but it’s mainly the small scenes which go against the pulse of today… about the traditional family values and about the fact that wanting more is bad for a relationship and can kill you… these scenes carry the whole thing along nicely. (03/07/2021)

The Tomorrow War tries to bring a flashy science fiction story with gritty action scenes, strong family drama and a heavy dose of explanatory scenes to the television screen, however, it does none of it consistently, originally or memorably. The next day, after watching it, the only thing that sticks in your mind is that it was fairly paced and sort of OK, if you can get past the rushedness and the many really stupid tropes. All in all, it is just a rehash of many things you have already seen in other movies where they were much more skillfully executed, (especially the recent Edge of Tomorrow, whose finale is blatantly copied in this movie), and is unfortunately just a superficial, big-budget TV movie. (05/07/2021)

In the first minutes, it looks like an original hybrid of Edge of Tomorrow, Independence Day and some post-apocalypse flick, but in the final reckoning, it's at most an upgraded Battle Los Angeles, and even that I'd rank higher due to the important factor of "great value for money", which definitely doesn't apply to Amazon's creation. That said, the visual effects sequences are fantastic, likewise with the design of the aliens. This being the main reason to watch Tomorrow War, because the script is a patchwork full of illogical moments and clichés, and the casting is also not good. Star Lord shouldn't get too involved in serious roles, because he’s fine when he’s wisecracking, but when the tone gets more serious, he is not so good. (14/07/2021)

In 2021, these alien derivatives may only entertain bacteria and other single-celled organisms. If it wasn’t for the bombastic CGI here and there, it would have nothing. And Chris Pratt's dumb attempts at expressing deeper emotions are quite comical. As Star-Lord he's fine, his awkwardness doesn't matter there, but otherwise he’s very far from a character actor. (06/07/2021)